LGA responds to Prime Minister's announcement on refugee crisis

LGA responds to the Prime Minister's announcement this afternoon on the refugee crisis.

Responding to the Prime Minister's announcement this afternoon on the refugee crisis, Cllr David Simmonds CBE, Chairman of the LGA's Asylum, Migration and Refugee Task Group, said:

"It is extremely heart-warming to see so many people wanting to help vulnerable people in crisis by opening their homes and offering care and safety, but this is only a short term solution to a long term problem. Councils have an excellent track record in supporting refugee children and their families, standing ready to help in every way they can, but need to ensure that when the moment of crisis passes and families and individuals settle into a new life in the UK that they have the support and resources they need.

"UK councils helped accommodate over 25,000 refugees and nearly 2,000 unaccompanied refugee children in the last year, most of whom will remain in the UK long term. We are supporting around 10,000 households whose asylum application was eventually turned down and who are now dependent on their local council for somewhere to live.

"Councils need a commitment from government to provide full funding to support individuals and families until they are granted asylum or they are safely returned to their own country. Local communities that open their doors at a moment of crisis should not be left to pick up the pieces when funding runs out and the world's attention has moved on."

Notes

According to the Home Office, 25,771 people applied for asylum in the UK in the year ending June 2015. Around 2,000 unaccompanied children apply for asylum in the UK each year.

As of January 15 2015, the number of households recorded as in receipt of financial support across 28 local authorities using NRPF Connect stood at 1,946, with 3,354 dependants, at a combined weekly cost in accommodation and subsistence provision of £579,407 (£30.1 million per annum).